Jesse reads but doesn’t pose

A lot of you developed a boner for Jesse Eisenberg this year after The Social Network and awards season and were sad and worried to see that come to an end because, Jesse being Jesse, he would recede from the public eye. Jesse makes it a point not to draw attention to himself (or use the internet or watch tv or engage in pop culture, eyeroll, eyeroll, eyeroll), Jesse is rarely papped, Jesse lives in New York and collects old maps and writes musicals. So yeah no, not a lot of opportunities for fresh photos.

Yesterday however he read at a fundraiser in support of the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers “Now Showing” in New York. Jesse was asked to pose at the step and repeat, you know, with the foundation’s banner behind him and all, to maximise attention, but he refused (according to the photo agency) because, in his words, “I’m not that famous”.

The other person who was there as a special guest was character actor Lili Taylor. Don’t pretend to me that you think Lili Taylor is a household name. Or more of one than Jesse Eisenberg. Please.

I get it that he’s not that guy who works the photo wall. I do. I also think that if you’re showing up for a cause you believe in, and he must, it wouldn’t hurt to have a few photos disseminated with the cause’s name in the background. Really, how does it hurt? What could possibly be the downside?

When you buy a photo, you have to credit the photographer and the agency, but you are not obligated to describe in detail the event, the date, the time, the venue. I could buy these photos of Jesse reading in front of a random wall and be a dick and not tell you what he was doing, where he was, why he was there. That’s the purpose of a photo wall, or one of them at least. So that the picture can speak for itself. So that you don’t have to rely on anyone else to identify your cause.

If it’s a party in Vegas to promote a club? Sure. Skip the f-cking photo wall. The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers isn’t Vegas though, is it?